.Israel’s Gaza Offensive Divides Arab States, Sparks Summit Spat
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A series of competing Arab conferences on ending Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip reflects the fractures within the Arab world over the three-week war.
Qatar invited members of the 22-nation Arab League to a special summit, which got under way today in Doha. Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to attend: Egypt, which is trying to mediate a truce on its own, says the league should discuss Gaza at its economic meeting Monday in Kuwait; Saudi Arabia called its own conference yesterday, of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council that also includes Qatar.
“The Arab situation is in great chaos,” said Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, who was in Kuwait today. “It’s extremely regrettable and very harmful.”
The divide separates countries aligned with the U.S. -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- from those that vehemently oppose Washington and its ally, Israel: Syria and Iran. Qatar, a small oil-rich Persian Gulf state, has been trying to influence recent events in the region with neutral diplomacy.
“This is all part of a Middle East Cold War,” said Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem.
Gaza is a theater for the rivalries. Syria and Iran back Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic party that controls the Gaza Strip and has fired rockets into Israel for years. Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election and the following year evicted security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Supporting Abbas
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan join the U.S. in supporting Abbas as the leader of both Gaza and the West Bank. He recognizes Israel and has engaged in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Jewish nation over a future Palestinian state.
Hamas opposes recognition of Israel, seeking instead a long-term truce following the establishment of a Palestinian state. The U.S. and EU consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Moustafa Kamel el-Sayed, a political analyst from Cairo University, said that Saudi Arabia and Egypt view the Qatar meeting “as an attempt to embarrass moderate, pro-Western governments.”
Arab floundering has begun to attract scorn. Morocco decided yesterday to opt out of both the Qatar conclave and Kuwait economic meeting.
Outbidding Tactics
“The mere fact of proposing the convening of an Arab summit now gives rise to squabbling and outbidding tactics, even disputes between Arab countries,” King Mohammed VI said in a statement issued in Rabat.
Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper predicted that none of the proposed get-togethers would help Gaza.
“The bitter acrimony over the subject makes it just as clear that the participants would be highly unlikely to accomplish anything of value,” the paper said in an editorial yesterday.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government has been trying to broker a cease-fire between Israeli and Hamas delegates during several days of talks in Cairo. The only Arab country that borders Gaza, Egypt has been criticized in the region for helping to maintain an Israeli blockade against Gaza by keeping shut the Rafah border crossing on the Sinai Peninsula.
Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt’s stand is also a matter of controversy at home. Last Friday, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition force, staged a massive demonstration in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Among the chants were cries of “Down With Mubarak.” Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood, making the government suspicious of the motives of both.
On Tuesday, Mubarak dispatched his son and heir-apparent Gamal to the Egyptian side of the border at Rafah after weeks of pro-Gaza demonstrations in Cairo and other cities.
“Our presence amongst you today is a testament to our support for the Palestinians,” Gamal Mubarak was quoted as saying in the state-run Al Akhbar newspaper. His pictures dominated the front pages of morning newspapers.
The same regional rivals lined up on opposite sides in the 2006 war in Lebanon, when Israel invaded its northern neighbor in hopes of routing Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia that is part of the Syria-Iran partnership.
U.S.-aligned Arab governments supported the pro-Western Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The Lebanese leader wants Hezbollah to disarm, putting him in sync with U.S. and Arab allies who say non-Arab, Shiite Iran uses Hezbollah and Hamas to spread its influence in the mostly Sunni Muslim Arab world.
Bloomberg
You know if I was as evil as I look, I would arrange for Iraq to come in and save the day...But we are most likely not at a place where that could happen yet.
Qatar invited members of the 22-nation Arab League to a special summit, which got under way today in Doha. Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to attend: Egypt, which is trying to mediate a truce on its own, says the league should discuss Gaza at its economic meeting Monday in Kuwait; Saudi Arabia called its own conference yesterday, of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council that also includes Qatar.
“The Arab situation is in great chaos,” said Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, who was in Kuwait today. “It’s extremely regrettable and very harmful.”
The divide separates countries aligned with the U.S. -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- from those that vehemently oppose Washington and its ally, Israel: Syria and Iran. Qatar, a small oil-rich Persian Gulf state, has been trying to influence recent events in the region with neutral diplomacy.
“This is all part of a Middle East Cold War,” said Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem.
Gaza is a theater for the rivalries. Syria and Iran back Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic party that controls the Gaza Strip and has fired rockets into Israel for years. Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election and the following year evicted security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Supporting Abbas
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan join the U.S. in supporting Abbas as the leader of both Gaza and the West Bank. He recognizes Israel and has engaged in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Jewish nation over a future Palestinian state.
Hamas opposes recognition of Israel, seeking instead a long-term truce following the establishment of a Palestinian state. The U.S. and EU consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Moustafa Kamel el-Sayed, a political analyst from Cairo University, said that Saudi Arabia and Egypt view the Qatar meeting “as an attempt to embarrass moderate, pro-Western governments.”
Arab floundering has begun to attract scorn. Morocco decided yesterday to opt out of both the Qatar conclave and Kuwait economic meeting.
Outbidding Tactics
“The mere fact of proposing the convening of an Arab summit now gives rise to squabbling and outbidding tactics, even disputes between Arab countries,” King Mohammed VI said in a statement issued in Rabat.
Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper predicted that none of the proposed get-togethers would help Gaza.
“The bitter acrimony over the subject makes it just as clear that the participants would be highly unlikely to accomplish anything of value,” the paper said in an editorial yesterday.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government has been trying to broker a cease-fire between Israeli and Hamas delegates during several days of talks in Cairo. The only Arab country that borders Gaza, Egypt has been criticized in the region for helping to maintain an Israeli blockade against Gaza by keeping shut the Rafah border crossing on the Sinai Peninsula.
Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt’s stand is also a matter of controversy at home. Last Friday, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition force, staged a massive demonstration in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Among the chants were cries of “Down With Mubarak.” Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood, making the government suspicious of the motives of both.
On Tuesday, Mubarak dispatched his son and heir-apparent Gamal to the Egyptian side of the border at Rafah after weeks of pro-Gaza demonstrations in Cairo and other cities.
“Our presence amongst you today is a testament to our support for the Palestinians,” Gamal Mubarak was quoted as saying in the state-run Al Akhbar newspaper. His pictures dominated the front pages of morning newspapers.
The same regional rivals lined up on opposite sides in the 2006 war in Lebanon, when Israel invaded its northern neighbor in hopes of routing Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia that is part of the Syria-Iran partnership.
U.S.-aligned Arab governments supported the pro-Western Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The Lebanese leader wants Hezbollah to disarm, putting him in sync with U.S. and Arab allies who say non-Arab, Shiite Iran uses Hezbollah and Hamas to spread its influence in the mostly Sunni Muslim Arab world.
Bloomberg
You know if I was as evil as I look, I would arrange for Iraq to come in and save the day...But we are most likely not at a place where that could happen yet.
posted by madtom at 9:59 AM
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